Water Polo Hotel among geysers - Medvedja seeks partner to build four-star tourist facility

(Sijarinska Banja spa)

Bathing and weddings under a geyser have already become a tradition in the area at the foot of Goljak mountain. Although it was declared as one of the top ten holiday destinations in Serbia last year, Sijarinska Banja spa resort will soon additionally expand its offer to further develop sports, recreational and congress tourism. In association with an investor, the municipality of Medvedja is going to have a four-star hotel built next to the outdoor water polo pool and sports fields in Sijarinska Banja.

The municipality has hired the Belgrade-based company C.T.D.3 to design a feasibility study for the hotel construction. The site on the bank of the Banjska river, where this hotel should be built, spans about 3,000 square meters.

- All facilities within the future complex in Sijarinska Banja, which is dubbed Water Polo Hotel, will be completely adapted to the needs of water polo players as well as guests with special requirements, children and businessmen attending congresses, seminars and presentations. The hotel is to comprise 88 rooms and 5 suites, while the complex will also include conference rooms, entertainment, recreation, rehabilitation and wellness facilities, as well as a place for children - Svetlana Dragic from C.T.D.3, author of the feasibility study, explains to eKapija.

Water Polo Hotel should be a contemporary facility featuring elements of the Serbian architecture, and the value of the hotel is estimated at EUR 5.1 million.

A lobby, a reception desk with offices, a cloakroom for guests, an Internet club, indoor and outdoor restaurants, recreation and practice zones, fitness, massage and hydromassage rooms, saunas, hot tubs, relaxation and vibrating tables and a small gymnasium will all be situated on the ground floor of the hotel.

One part of the first floor will feature a total of 32 rooms with balconies, whereas the other part will host multipurpose conference rooms with up-to-date equipment, which will be internally connected to the ground floor, where restaurants and bars are to be located.

According to the plan, 32 two-bed rooms and one suite, a practice room for athletes and a playroom for children will be situated on the second floor. The attic will feature 24 two-bed-rooms, 4 suites, a cafe and an open-air balcony, while the cellar is reserved for a casino and a discotheque.

- The four-star hotel project is ready for the start of the design of technical documentation, and there are no obstacles to meeting land-utilization requirements and getting consents with the aim of receiving building and operating permits. Further implementation of the program presented by this study will solely depend on the interest of the future investor and a successful agreement with the current owner and user of the site and the water polo pool. The feasibility study has shown that the hotel construction is justified and that the investment will pay off – says Dragic.

Sijarinska Banja

Sijarinska Banja spa is situated in the south of Serbia, in the municipality of Medvedja, 330 kilometers away from Belgrade, 90 km away from Nis and about 50 km away from Leskovac, at the height of about 420 meters above the sea level.

This spa resort has 18 mineral springs with the water temperature ranging between 32 and 72°C. Hot water geysers up to 8 meters high, which are unique in Europe, represent a special beauty and attraction of this destination. Next to them is a newly built complex of small pools and fountains.

Sijarinska Banja is the only spa resort in Serbia with 10 mineral springs whose water can be used in the treatment of a broad spectrum of diseases, such as the diseases of the locomotor system, gastrointestinal tract, kidneys and the urinary tract, gynecological diseases, chronic diseases of the respiratory tract, neurological diseases, skin diseases, etc.

The spa resort gets its first hotel - Beograd (with 80 rooms), in 1954, and the first park opens shortly afterwards.

Today this spa has the reconstructed and modernized three-star hotel Gejzer, which is part of the Special Hospital and comprises 220 beds.